Alice Springs, Standley Chasm, Simpson's Gap

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It’s another early start this morning, though my alarm that was set for 5am didn’t have a chance to go off. Two loud kookaburras woke me up, though I must admit it was a pleasant wake-up call, and they were trying to compete against each other by the sound of it. Anyway, what with they’re singing I decided to get up. It was still fairly dark outside, but I made my way to the showers, to try and wake myself up fully. I think I was the first awake, so no surprises there, though shortly afterwards I could here a couple of others chatting.

Everyone was awaking within half-an-hour of me, as I could hear all the watch alarms going off. Once everyone was awake, breakfast was prepared. Cereals again, but to be honest, that was all I really wanted. We then all took down our tents, and got ready for the big off. Today was the last day for me on tour, and it seemed a special day for all. We were bound for Alice Springs. This took us about three hours to get there, bear in mind we did have two more road stops.

During the journey there, we had a sheet come round where we everyone could put their contact details, if ever they want to catch up with anyone after the tour. I wrote my details down, like my e-mail address, as did about three-quarters of the group. I thought it was a really good idea, as long after you’ve returned home, you can still keep in touch with people that you have no chance of seeing in person.

Before we got to Alice Springs we stopped at the main sign, which tell you, you are now entering Alice. This was on the outskirts, and a group photo was to be taken here. It was a shame as the sun was just slightly behind us, so black shadows covered our faces, it was also a little too far away, so no detail would have been seen anyway. It was a shame, as it would have made a great photo.

We arrived in Alice Springs at about midday, just in time for lunch. We had two to three hours set aside for a little shopping and something to eat. As it was our last day in the Outback, I think many people wanted to get some presents for when they go home. It was a good place to do such a thing. We stopped off at the entrance to Todd Mall, which stretches along Todd Street.

This is a long walkway with many shops, cafes and art galleries, which displayed outstanding examples of Aboriginal crafts, including carvings, paintings, silks, screen prints, hand-decorated jewellery, and painted boomerangs and didgeridoos. The shops run on both sides of the mall. Some of them looked real expensive so I decided I would have a look in them after I been to the ‘Plaza’. I went with Tim and Riki to get something to eat. The ‘plaza’ is a large shopping area, on two levels. It’s very modern, and resembles a much smaller Lakeside. There was a food area in the middle of the plaza, so we had some lunch there. If I remember we had tuna baguettes. Once we’d finished, Tim and Riki wanted to find the toilets, so I decided to go off on my own for a while, and do some exploring. I found a really big music store called Murray Neck Musicworld, and got two music CD’s there: Absolutely Acoustic Rock, an Australian rock compilation, which cost $36 (£12) and System Of A Down’s ‘Toxicity’ at $30 (£10). I was quite pleased with myself, as I got them for £10 each, instead of about £16, which is what they’d have cost in England. I then went back to the mall, and went in search of lots of presents. Alice wasn’t really packed with visitors, as it was off-season at the time of us going there. I did hear one of the local shopkeepers complaining that the poor weather may have been the reason, even though it was really hot and into the mid-thirties whilst there.

I bought quite a few little things whilst going in all the shops down here: an Aboriginal print shirt, a large well-detailed Australia map, some picture postcards and an Aussie slang pocket book. The shops did sell stock some really nice items like 'didges', and paintings, which were all, painted in bright colours. The trick on knowing if the Aboriginal items were actually made locally, is that any animals painted on, should be the animals that are found in the outback. For instance, snakes are common, and birds. If a 'didge' or painting shows water animals then it’s obviously not been painted locally, due to the lack of sea.

We all met up where we had been dropped off earlier.

The next stop was Standley Chasm. Standley Chasm is 53 km (33 miles) west of Alice Springs, and is a gap between 100 metre tall cliffs. Each day the midday sun shines right through the centre and brightens the bottom of the gorge. Missionary Ernest Kramer named ‘Standley Chasm’, in honour of Ida Standley, who was Alice Springs’ first teacher. It is now managed by the Iwupataka tribe, who are a nearby Aboriginal settlement.

Standley Chasm is a quiet place to be. It consists of a fair walk, through small trees, and rocky terrain. It is much cooler once in the shade, and it’s an awesome sight when you look up, with steep 100m rock sides either side of you. Once you go deep into the chasm, you come up to a small, clear, rock pool. This signals the end of the walk and you have to go back the way you came, but it’s a nice sight to see.

Then it was onto Simpson’s Gap. Simpson’s Gap was discovered in 1871, by a surveyor called Gilbert McMinn, whilst exploring for possible routes for the Overland Telegraph Line. It consists of areas of white sand, huge river eucalyptuses, and white-barked ghost and river gum trees. These lead to a permanent waterhole in the shelter of the cliffs. These are particularly impressive during the sun of late afternoon. The Gap is also home to a group of black-footed rock wallabies, which are normally rare to see during the height of the day, but sure enough we spotted two or three as they were getting out of the sun. Again, this was a nice peaceful place, and both the Chasm and the Gap, are lunchtime and after-work retreats for the locals, trying to get away from the usual hustle and bustle of Alice.
Once back in Alice we stopped off at a local beer store, as some of the others took on some stock for the next few days. Before, going to our destination for tonight, they took a diversion to the local clinic, so both the girls could have their check-ups. They were to contact us once they had finished, and Johnny would then come and pick them up.

Our next destination would take us back to where I started, the Heavitree Gap Outback Resort, about three miles south of Alice. I thought this would be where I was let off, and that would be it. However, I found out, earlier that day, that the tour would be staying at the resort for the night. That pleased me, as it meant that I could have one last evening with everyone too. There was a big night planned for tonight, which included a meal, which we all had to pay $15 for (just £5 for a three-course meal). Also laid on was some entertainment from the local ‘didge’ player, a traditional music singer who was quite funny, and also some chap had brought along some snakes and reptiles from the local reptile house.

Anyway, before all this we arrived at the resort. I had to go and check-in on my own, as officially I was not now with the party. I had the second room from the end and on the ground floor, next door to the room where I lodged on my first night on arrival. Tim was also leaving the group today, but the place he had booked was back in Alice. He desperately wanted to go to the big night tonight, so had decided to come back with us all, and would get a cab back to Alice afterwards. I let him use my room to keep his bags and stuff in, as I didn’t have anyone sharing it with me. Had a shower, and just relaxed until it was time to go to ‘The Tavern’, a bar/restaurant place where we were to spend the evening. The food was really nice, though before they brought it out, this ‘waiter’ put out the table ornaments. They were reptiles, and they looked like they were stuffed, but then they blinked. They were alive! They were on our table and they were alive! It freaked everyone out, as they didn’t expect anything like that.

Then he was getting everyone to hold them, which some people didn’t want to do. I was up for it, and held this 2ft long lizard. It was really slithery, and very calm. Apparently, the night is when they are more awake, but they love the warm, and when you’re holding them, they’re feeding off your body warmth. They were sleeping, and were no problem. Another reptile they had was another lizard-type creature. This was an ugly looking thing, with really rough skin. It’s tail was shaped like a head, and from a quick glance it looked like it had two heads, thus making it impossible for a predator to determine the head end.

Once the excitement of this had died down, we had our three-course meal. Then it was onto the night’s entertainment. First up was the reptile show. This guy called ‘Rex’ brought out the reptiles again, and told us where they came from, what they were, etc. He was from one of the reptile sanctuaries on the outskirts of Alice. Then it was time for the snakes. He showed us about four different snakes, all in their separate boxes, and two of them were venomous, which didn’t sound good to me. One of the snakes he brought out was also bright green. It was the same snake, be it at fully-grown stage, as the one Edwin had filmed on our first day at Ooraminna Bush Camp. It was not a venomous snake, which put our minds at rest, though it was apparently a member of the viper family. He got about five of us out the front then for the finale. This was where he introduced us to his 20-foot python. The five he’d pulled out front then had to let the snake crawl onto their shoulders. It was heavy, warm, and like the lizards very slippery. A couple of occasions as it crawled onto Marjon and where its tail end went looked rude. I didn’t let it climb on my shoulders, but they all said it was surprisingly heavy.

Next up was Tommy Crow. He was a didgeridoo maker and player, who was based at the resort. He carves ‘didges’ from particular gum trees, and paints them in traditional colours and markings. He showed us a selection of ‘didges’ he had made, and they differed greatly. There are many different types of gum trees, and they all produce different sounds. They get the trees, which have been hollowed out by termites. Then they are sanded and painted. Once done, they are then polished, which gives them their finished look. Then he played different Aboriginal tunes, to highlight the different sounds. He was a really good player, and some were deep sounding, others were higher, some had more of an echo than others, and so on. As we were hearing him playing, we were all in awe at the magnificent sound being made. It has a sort of haunting sound, especially when you put echo on the microphone. I don’t think any of us wanted him to stop playing, as the sound was so strong and ambient. It wasn’t just me either; we could all feel it. Then, he started to do the unthinkable. He was now producing two sounds from one ‘didge’. We all looked at each other in astonishment. I’d never seen it done before, but again it was another awesome sound. Another feature was the ‘dual didge’. This was made from a gum tree with two close branches together. This was then used to make a ‘didge’ which two people could play at once. They got Ivan, our best player, out the front with some others that were there, including Katrina as well from our group. They all gave it their best shots at individually playing parts of a song. It was a good laugh. Everyone that participated in an activity that night would get a free drink out of it.

Next up was a traditional singer called Scotty Dawson. Throughout our time in the Outback on tour, Johnny had occasionally put on some traditional ‘Aussie’ music, which really got into the adventurous mood. These songs were sung by Scotty, and we all had to admit liking the songs. It sort of made the travelling go a bit quicker. He sung a few songs, including a song about the ‘Big Gum Tree’, which is similar to the terrible songs ‘Agadoo’ or ‘Macarena’ in that it goes with actions. It’s a bit of a childish song, but once you remember the words and actions, you struggle really hard to get them out of your head. Scotty had also got a few of the others to come up and do dancing, and other actions to songs. Again, on each occasion they were given free drinks for their efforts. Katrina had gone up three more times, and didn’t need to buy drinks tonight.

During Scotty’s performance, the local children had opened the non-venomous snake basket and were holding them and playing with them. They weren’t in the least bit frightened of them, as they had probably grown up used to them.

Once Scotty had finished his performance he brought back Tommy Crow, and they were dueting with Scotty on his acoustic and Tommy on his ‘didge’. It was another first for me, and again it still sounded great.

As time went on, it was getting to the end of the evening, and everyone was getting tired, including me. It was about 11.30pm, and it was decided to end the night now. Tim went and said his goodbyes, as he was going to get a cab back to Alice now, but had to get his belongings from my room. Also coming back with us was Riki, Ivan, Marjon, Miriam and Kim. Some of the shy group members had already left for their rooms, as they were departing first light. My flight wasn’t until 10am, so I didn’t have to turn in too early. Some of the others came up to me that night and said their byes but I had to remind them I would be here in the morning. It was also Lisa and Katrina’s last day as well, and we were all invited to have breakfast with everyone in the morning. It sounded good to me and also meant I could say my farewells to everyone. I had a really good sleep, as time had now eventually caught up on me.

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Photos

The Group!
Tour group photo at Alice Springs, 7 guys, and 22 girls!

Standley Chasm
Looking back through Standley Chasm.

Simpson's Gap
A black-footed rock wallaby, at Simpson's Gap.